A few years back I suffered a retinal detachment which required surgery and extensive recovery. Luckily most of my sight has recovered. The cause of the detachment was unknown, given I had no trauma to the head and don’t hit any of the risk factors.
Is there any evidence you are aware of that links lifting weights to an increased risk of retinal tears/detachment? I can’t find anything on it but just wondered.
For reference I’ve been lifting for years, since before the injury occurred and have continued to lift afterwards - ensuring I have regular eye tests for peace of mind.
Yes, there can be an association here - although can be the case with anything involving the valsalva maneuver.
We have no way of knowing whether it was related to your specific case. There is also an individual risk / benefit assessment involved here, since it’s easy for an eye doctor to say “just stop lifting weights” without carefully assessing the potential benefits from strength training that the individual would be giving up and the potential consequences that this could cause, compared to an unknown benefit from avoiding lifting weights (while still likely allowing/permitting the valsalva in other areas of life, such as during a bowel movement).